macOS High Sierra reports Continuity as working but I see no results.

[mwoolweaver]

Have you tried these steps? Yes.

Is there already an open topic for this issue? Not that I found

Please include the following information.

• OS Version: macOS High Sierra 10.13 Developer Beta 4 (17A315), iOS 11 Developer Beta 4
• Device model: 13-Inch Late 2011 MacBook Pro i7 (2640M), iPhone 7 (A1660)
• Dongle or replaced card?: replacement card
• Used dongle/card: BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX

Your Issue:

macOS reports Continuity as active but Instant HotSpot and Continuity do NOT work also Airdrop and MacID do work.

Steps done to try to fix the issue:

iCloud logout/login process on my MBP and iPhone 7 and waiting a few days (after logging back into iCloud on both devices) before trying the logout/login process. I have been using the High Sierra developer beta since release and have been patiently waiting for a couple weeks to see if it just starts working for me.

edit: updated macOS version

[pookjw]

MacBook Late-2009 17A291m, iPod touch 6th gen iOS 11 DB2

Same here but AirDrop works.

[PeterHolbrook]

Did HandOff, etc. work on this same hardware setup running

1) Sierra 10.12 (presumably, with CAT)? 2) El Capitan 10.11 (presumably, without CAT)?

[mwoolweaver]

@PeterHolbrook

Yes everything has been working since Yosemite w/ the exact same hardware using CAT.

• Mac model: 13-Inch Late 2011 MacBook Pro i7 (2640M)
• Dongle or replaced card?: replacement card
• Used dongle/card: BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX

[croaker-1]

Looking at the output when running activate shows CAT is attempting to make it’s changes (kext backup and patching) within it’s sandboxed environment, which it sees as a read only filesystem. I don’t think it did this in Sierra.

Maybe apps can only access System resources through a sandbox in High Sierra, regardless of its GateKeeper status. High Sierra does make several changes to security including improved SIP and more stringent standards for non-Apple kexts so it’s entirely possible.

[mwoolweaver]

@croaker-1 anyway around this?

[fjdr]

Hello to all: I think this is a problem with High Sierra. For example. In Sierra after activate CAT, must open FaceTime and log out and login to make work. That sometime was necessary for any Mac after a System update.

Now when sign out of FaceTime and sign in again do not ask for password. Then I think really is not login out.

The other issue is my iPhone is not shown in the Bluetooth Menu Icon

[fjdr]

Try to unpair and pair your iPhone

[fjdr]

Well: After a lot try out nothing happens.

I logout and login iCloud from each application as I did in Sierra, but do not work.

Some people ask me why to migrate to High Sierra, and must tell is because the GPU better performance. Indeed the internal temperatures drop down 10ºC

[mwoolweaver]

hate to read you're having the same issue but i'm also glad i'm not the only person w/ the issue as well, more hope of a fix coming down the pipeline. . .

[11digits]

Hi,

Latest beta (public beta 7 I think)

Used card: BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX MacBook Pro 15 i7 Early 2011

I disabled System Integrity Protection using Recovery and terminal "csrutil disable" then ran latest CAT and works without any issue for me between Iphone 7 PLUS (ios 10.3.3) and also between Ipad Mini 3 with ios 11

[airmanchairman]

This bodes well for the future, for those of us with 2011 machines and who have bought the 4CAX wifi Extreme card: just the news I've been waiting for!

Doru Brad you are a star up there. Thanks for sharing and happy new month!

Sent from my iPad

On 1 Sep 2017, at 11:15, Doru Brad notifications@github.com wrote:

Hi,

Latest beta (public beta 7 I think)

Used card: BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX MacBook Pro 15 i7 Early 2011

I disabled System Integrity Protection using Recovery and terminal "csrutil disable" then ran latest CAT and works without any issue for me between Iphone 7 PLUS (ios 10.3.3) and also between Ipad Mini 3 with ios 11

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[11digits]

No problem, I just updated so needed this test 👍

[fjdr]

I do not know how 11digits can make work his MBP.

I have an early Mac Book Pro 17 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 with the same BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX BT card installed.

Now I update to macOSx 10.13 Beta (17A358a) and nothing happens. And in my General Preferences Continuity appears OK

[fjdr]

I will run CAT again and will notify if can make work

[fjdr]

Something wrong happens. I deactivate CAT to being all again new. And return from recovery. Well...... Continuity keep active like my Mac is new???

I don't understand. But do not work

[11digits]

What can I say -- works for me:

See here my model: https://screencast.com/t/thJdoA82 And here see that I is working for me: https://screencast.com/t/Mq2kYsqthCR

Did you do this? : I disabled System Integrity Protection using Recovery and terminal "csrutil disable"

[fjdr]

Look: I deactivate CAT and can't find the original driver....

After that Startup in Recovery Mode and run csrutil disable. Reboot to run CAT again but....

I think that is the problem.

[fjdr]

Then:

I will reinstall High Sierra. And see what happens

Otherwise; there are some can help to find the original driver

[fjdr]

After reinstalling all again. Running CAT and verify that Continuity is ON. NOTHING HAPPENS.

Now appear an update to Beta 8. I will try all again.

[11digits]

When you say "nothing happens" what do you refer to? Does handoff not work or airdrop? I used just airdrop ...

[fjdr]

After upgrade to Beta 8 - run csrutil - run CAT..... And you can see all is on:

Well: Call and iDrop works fine:

But continuity nothing happens.

And Handoff neither

I reset iCloud as I did before with Sierra, but do not work either

[PeterHolbrook]

I have only installed High Sierra betas on a VMware Fusion virtual machine, but, naturally that will never let me check on Continuity/Handoff features. What fjdr describes reminds me of my experience with El Capitan and Sierra.

I purchased the Bcm94360cd BT/Wi-Fi module and installed it on my Mac Pro 5,1 (2010). As soon as I did that, I had full Continuity/Handoff functionality in El Capitan without doing anything else (no need whatsoever for CAT). However, when I upgraded to macOS Sierra, I immediately lost Instant Hotspot and Handoff. In addition, my Apple Watch would not bypass password entry, a newly added functionality in Sierra. Only months later did I learn the Apple had deliberately excluded the pairing of the Bcm94360cd and the Mac Pro 5,1 as being supported for such functions, but CAT was able to effect the magic, and it did very well indeed.

Now, the last picture DOES show the Instant Hotspot for fjdr's iPhone, which is a very GOOD sign. That handoff doesn't work for you right now is probably just a glitch. I suggest that, once again, you log out of iCloud both on your Mac and your iPhone, reboot both and log back in. It will probably work.

If your iPhone hadn't been listed as an Instant Hotspot Wi-Fi source, that would have been a bad sign and my advice would have been different.

[PeterHolbrook]

Rethinking your situation, I think the appearance of your iPhone as a Wi-Fi source is not the automatic response of the Instant Hotspot function, but the result of your manual tweaking of a personal hotspot. So, it appears I was wrong. When you ran CAT in High Sierra, did it display any messages indicating the successful replacement of handoff kexts? Can you compare said kexts with their respective unmodified version in the backup directory probably created by CAT? They should be different.

In the worst-case scenario, do you have a backup copy of your CAT-modified Sierra handoff kexts? Substituting them for the current non-functional High Sierra ones might do the trick. In any case, be cautious. You might need to disable SIP and make sure you can boot your computer in case of system corruption.

[fjdr]

Hello Peter:

I recover the kext files from TimeMachine when I ran Sierra ( when CAT works ). But doesn't work neither.

I force install of CAT. And if you can see, all appears OK. Maybe is another think that deny the Handoff access?

[PeterHolbrook]

I don't know what to think. In my case, as soon as the Instant Hotspot issue was solved in Sierra (thanks to the CAT beta), handoff began working immediately. If I remember correctly, I didn't even have to reboot the computer.

Doble-check the following:

1) I suggest that you disable SIP until you solve this issue. 2) Are you sure you are using the latest beta of CAT. The stable, regular version, is known NOT to work on Sierra, so it might fail to work in High Sierra as well.

[fjdr]

Peter: May you tell me what Mac and OS version are using you now trying CAT?

[fjdr]

I use it the Beta. I will delete it and reinstall the last version 2 and try.

[fjdr]

Well. I think all is wrong. When try uninstall CAT appears the river wasn't found on back up.

[fjdr]

I will do manually to start up again

[PeterHolbrook]

I only used CAT once, on one of the previous iterations of Sierra. I am presently running 10.12.6 with no issues.

I don't suppose this is significant, because other users reported running CAT on Sierra directly from a Finder window, but I couldn't do that. In my case, double-clicking on the CAT icon did nothing. Because of that, I simply opened the application package and went to the relevant script, running it from Terminal. That's how it worked for me. But, as I say, others reported it worked for them in a simpler manner.

[PeterHolbrook]

I don't know about uninstalling CAT. I've never tried it.

[fjdr]

Dear Peter: Thanks for your assistance and do not worry. I repeat all the procedure and does not work.

Since I install HIGH SIERRA BETA Continuity/Handoff doesn't work. I think must be a kind of forbidden access to my Mac ( MacBookPro8,3 ).

Indeed when try to deactivate CAT, you may see in the last screenshot I sent, "Reinstalling original Apple Driver ------ NOT OK" is a odd thing that never happens before 10.13.

When have time to do this, I search what is the real difference between Sierra and High Sierra in Handoff. Maybe I must write in same resource file: Hardware detected..... MacBookPro8,3)

Best regards

[PeterHolbrook]

Please, consider studying Czo's and my own contributions at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-high-sierra-10-13-unsupported-macs-thread.2048478/page-14. Therein I explain a theoretical way to make Handoff work in High Sierra even if CAT shouldn't work. Have a look at it. Naturally, you must find out how to "translate" my manual instructions for your case. My theoretical example applies to a Mac Pro 3,1 and a Mac Pro 5,1. The board id for a Mac Book Pro, et cetera, will be different, so you need that "translation", but my observations there might in theory solve your situation. Good luck.

[fjdr]

Thanks: I must now find the next parameters to my MacBook Pro 8,3: or Where can find?

Mac-FC02E91DDD3FA6A4

<dict>
    <key>DID ProductCode</key>
    <integer>18986</integer>
    <key>Immediate Proximity Threshold</key>
    <integer>-24</integer>
    <key>Max Proximity Threshold</key>
    <integer>-45</integer>
    <key>Proximity Threshold</key>
    <integer>-33</integer>
</dict>

[fjdr]

I am editing and add this:

Mac-942459F5819B171B

<dict>
    <key>DID ProductCode</key>
    <integer>18982</integer>
    <key>Immediate Proximity Threshold</key>
    <integer>-40</integer>
    <key>Max Proximity Threshold</key>
    <integer>-50</integer>
    <key>Proximity Threshold</key>
    <integer>-45</integer>
</dict>

[PeterHolbrook]

It should be easier than all that. Editing /System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist ought to be trivial. You simply have to change the "ContinuitySupport" value (for your relevant case) to the boolean value "true".

As for /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360, I think you simply need to follow Czo's advice in his message #335. So, put in a nutshell you need to run

sudo -E perl -pi -e "s/\Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86/\Mac-F221BEC8\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0/" /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360

from the Terminal, replacing Mac-F221BEC8\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 with your computer's board id (presumably Mac-942459F5819B171B). If you aren't comfortable running such a command, you can also edit the relevant file using a Hex editor, but you need to be very careful. Changing one single wrong byte might be a disaster.

Once the kext is modified and in place, you also need to delete the kext cache.

[fjdr]

Dear Peter: I FINALLY RESOLVE THE ISSUE. I went kext by kext associated to Bluetooth and Bradcom card, replace the numbers and voila!!

[sysfloat]

@PeterHolbrook this is exactly what CAT should be doing.

I currently do not have the beta installed, which is why I'm not really able to offer much support for it, I will however try to fix everything for high sierra as soon as it's out.

could someone please send me their CAT patched kext to catbetaelecap@gmail.com for me to review?

[PeterHolbrook]

@fjdr

Congratulations. When High Sierra is released I'll try and see what CAT does. If it doesn't work, at least we know how to solve the issue manually.

[fjdr]

Sysfloat. I try several times to send my kext I modify thanks to Peter Holbrook. But the address appears do not exist.

[sysfloat]

@fjdr Very sorry about that I made a typo in the address.

catbetaelcap@gmail.com

[PeterHolbrook]

@sysfloat

Thank you. Excellent.

[fjdr]

After some work....

[topoutchris]

Got everything working in the lastest (last) beta of HS (through the advice of fdjr and Peterholbrook), but one thing I've never gotten to work well with either HS or Sierra is the apple watch unlocking. The feature shows up and I can check the box. But always seem to get the dreaded 'unable to communicate' message when trying to activate it. Running a 2011 iMac with the necessary upgraded hardware. Signing in and out of iCloud and ticking and unticking boxes doesn't seem to work. Handoff, Instant Hotspot, Airdrop, etc. all work perfectly. Just this one little thing seems to be being difficult.

All the necessary stuff is checked and triple checked (same iCloud account, wi-fi, bluetooth, etc), anyone had any luck with this feature working consistently?

[fjdr]

Hello Surtin: I haven't an Apple Watch to test with it. Sorry can't help.

[PeterHolbrook]

@surtin: When I first upgraded my Mac Pro 5,1 to macOS Sierra, apart from losing Instant Hotspot and Handoff, I noticed that my brand-new Apple Watch Series 2 also failed to unlock the computer. "Unlocking" would take up to five minutes, but unlocking was never achieved. I also got that stuff about not being able to communicate with the watch, although it was on my wrist, less than one metre from the computer.

The situation solved itself, months later, after running CAT. I don't recall I had to do anything else. Perhaps, at most, switching the watch off and on.

[topoutchris]

Honestly it just started working randomly. Seems that part of continuity just needs a bit of random time and it starts working. Weird.

[nuvzzy]

@surtin are you saying you managed to get Apple Watch unlock working on HS? I have 2 Mac minis, one mid 2011 which I have applied CAT to and handoff works but no tick box for unlock mack via apple watch & a 2012 Mac mini which should be supported which aslo does not have the tick box..? I was hoping this was a HS issue and devs would be able to fix it but I'm starting to think theres something more to it?

[topoutchris]

Yeah. Unlock with Apple watch has been working fine for me after initial hiccups.

On Sep 19, 2017, 12:17 PM -0500, nuvzzy notifications@github.com, wrote:

@surtin are you saying you managed to get Apple Watch unlock working on HS? I have 2 Mac minis, one mid 2011 which I have applied CAT to and handoff works but no tick box for unlock mack via apple watch & a 2012 Mac mini which should be supported which aslo does not have the tick box..? I was hoping this was a HS issue and devs would be able to fix it but I'm starting to think theres something more to it? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[jasare]

@PeterHolbrook Hi - I've had a similar experience as reported above so have 2 questions please:-

1. can patched CAT kext file be sent to me at julian.asare@me.com please?
2. If not will CAT be updated to automatically perform what is required (besides disabling System Integrity Protection)? If so when?

Appreciate any responses.